What's Past Is Past
by Lightning-Lex372
Summary: When the Descendants go to Auradon Prep, Ben and his friends notice that something is definitely wrong. When they tell the Fairy Godmother about their fears, the strange behavior and the unexplained bruises, she decides to help them figure out the truth- the truth of what really happens when villains don't love their kids. *DISCONTINUED*
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N) Hi everyone! Lex here! I've been writing fanfiction for about three years now (or more) but I've never published one before because I've been nervous that no one will like it. I was even hesitant to post this one because I thought that someone would judge me for writing about Descendants. I've decided it's now or nothing... so here goes. I'm sorry this is so short; if people read this and like it then I will update again but if no one sees it in a two week period then I probably won't bother to update it. So if you read this and like it, do me a favor and share this with others who might like it? I would definitely appreciate it :) Anyway I love anyone who will bother to even read this first chapter. If you want to see more, I would love to see a review! Love, Lex**

 **PS: This does not contain any Jaylos/Jarlos and I doubt it will have any Devie so if that's what you're into, get lost. (Only kidding). I also did not read the book and I'm not planning to, so if you really care that much, then this probably isn't the story for you.**

 **Rated T for now but I'll change it if anyone thinks I should. Make sure you read the warnings in the summary!**

 **Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Descendants, or else there would have been Jayvie and probably some Cal.**

 **MAL POV**

I peer out the window of the shiny black car. In Auradon, everything seems nicer: less dingy, less dark. The people look livelier and even the plants look happy. Colors bombard my eyes, from bright yellows to soft pinks to gorgeous greens and it's all so different from the Isle that for a second I have to close my eyes.

Someone grabs my shoulder and I jump, but it's only Carlos, looking out over my head. His eyes, chocolate brown, sparkle as he turns to face me. "It's nice," he whispers. Compared to what we left behind, this place could be paradise. But that's the only thing he says, because when he thinks about exactly what we've escaped from, his face darkens again and he looks away.

"What do you think it'll be like?" Evie asks softly. Strands of her dark blue hair wink in the sunlight as she leans into Jay's side. He automatically puts an arm around her and her face relaxes, but I know with a glance that she's not comfortable. I can tell by her posture, in the way she holds herself all too carefully, that she's still in pain from last night.

"No matter what it's like, it can't be worse than the Isle," Carlos mumbles, running a hand through his hair. "At least here no one can deck you in the face for talking out of turn." He looks pointedly at the swollen purple mess that is Jay's left eye. Evie bites her lip.

Jay shrugs. "I don't care what it's like as long as my life isn't threatened every time I breathe." He shakes his head a little bit, letting his hair fall more naturally around his face and kind of hide his eye. Turning to face us, he continues, "Also, you three could stand to gain a few pounds."

Carlos raises an eyebrow. "Well, there wasn't exactly a buffet to choose from-"

"Guys," Evie interrupts. "We're out for now; can we please get along?"

"We weren't fighting," Carlos mumbles.

Jay gives her a wry smile. "Sorry to annoy you, princess."

She rolls her eyes at him, but I detect the blush when he gives her a sneaky peck on the cheek.

Carlos clears his throat, calling our attention back to him. He exhales slowly and asks, "So what do we do if it's worse?"

Jay leans back in his seat dismissively. "It can't be worse. It's impossible."

"Oh, I can think of several more ways it could be worse than home," Carlos counters.

"Nah. These people aren't allowed to do half the stuff our parents do," Jay says, grinning.

I turn back to the window, needing to think about something else. Up ahead, I see the peaks of the castle inhabited by the king and queen. And to the left, I see the school. It's tall and made of stone, with towers that could be intimidating if they weren't littered with stained glass windows. There's a neatly groomed garden in front with a statue I can't identify from here. And if I squint, I can just make out the corner of the sports fields behind the building. Not exactly the type of place I'm used to.

I turn back to the others. "We're almost there," I say quietly, trying to disguise the tremble of fear in my voice. Evie meets my eyes and gives me what is probably supposed to be a reassuring smile, but it does nothing to stop the pounding of my heart.

The car pulls up a narrow drive laid with cobblestones. Fountains and topiaries are left and right all the way up the road. I wonder idly if anyone can tell I'm shaking. Carlos puts his hand on mine, and as the pruned bushes fall away, we pull up beside the school. To my right, I see Jay's fingers close around Evie's.

The door opens and we step out shakily. I don't think I've ever held someone's hand quite as tightly as I am right now- I might be breaking Carlos's fingers. As I carefully straighten my hair and outfit with my free hand and glance up at the preppy kids standing in front of us, I hear a voice say:

"Welcome to Auradon Prep."

 **BEN POV**

 _They're smaller than I thought,_ is the first thing that goes through my head. _And scrawnier._

"Welcome to Auradon Prep," I say cheerfully, extending my hand. "I'm Ben." The biggest one- _Jafar's son, what's his name, dammit_ \- glances at the three others and reaches out to shake it, turning his head and revealing a black eye as he does so.

"Jay," he says shortly. _I knew it._

I turn to the girl with purple hair. Her purple and green leather jacket dangles off her like it's too big for her petite frame. She's pale, with piercing green eyes. She jumps as I offer her a handshake, but then accepts. "Mal," she says, shifting her weight awkwardly to her right leg and staring at the ground.

Next is the girl with blue hair, and I remember her name before she says it. "Evie." Neither girl looks me in the eye, and neither does the boy standing behind them all. I extend my hand, but he just closes his eyes. "That's Carlos," Evie says briefly.

There's silence for a moment. I glance to my left, meeting eyes with Audrey and finding a weird expression on her face, like something is very very wrong but she doesn't want to show it. Returning my gaze to the four silent kids in front of me, I say, "Do you guys want help finding your dorms?"

They don't answer.

"Well, if you go in through the main doors, you'll see a map of the school. You guys are in the North Tower, rooms 13 and 17. 13 is for the girls. Follow the map and if you get lost, just ask one of the suits of armor and it will let you know where to go. I will personally come to get you guys for lunch and afternoon classes. Any questions?"

They all shake their heads, still not speaking. Unsure of what to do, I say, "Okay, see you guys then. Come on, Audrey."

I grab Audrey's hand and turn away, heading across the grounds toward the tourney field. Glancing back over my shoulder, I watch them gather their things from the car, and I'm so distracted that I almost trip over the bleachers.

"Ben! Look where you're going, please," Audrey says, forcing me to tear my eyes off the four new kids.

"Sorry," I respond. "It's just-

"Something's wrong," she interrupts. "They're not acting right. None of them."

"I'm sure they're just nervous about coming to a new school," I respond, even though there's a nagging doubt at the back of my mind that says there's something more.

"Only Jay would even look you in the eyes, Ben!" Audrey cries. "And they've been hurt, too, couldn't you tell?"

"I saw the black eye-"

"You didn't see the one on Mal's cheek? Or how the other girl- Evie- was wincing every time she breathed? And the smaller boy wouldn't even talk to you! He didn't let you touch him!"

I know I have to stop her before she goes off on a tangent. "Hey," I say soothingly, "we'll figure out what's wrong, and we'll help them, okay? I knew something was off; they were giving me a weird vibe. We'll figure it out, okay?"

She nods, taking a deep breath. "I'm gonna go see if Jane or Lonnie noticed something weird about them."

"Okay," I say. "Just give them some space, at least until lunch? This is a new place and I want them to be comfortable."

She nods again and heads off toward the school. I watch her go in, and then I head for the garden. I need to find Doug.

 **(A/N) Well I hope you guys liked it! I'd like to see at least...** ** _one_** **... review before I update again? Even if it's only concrit. But I will probably update in a week or so regardless. I'm sorry it's short, I don't think my chapters will ever be very long but they will probably get a bit longer than this. I want to try to get on a schedule so at least you'll have regular updates. Love you guys!**

 **Love, Lex**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N)Hello everyone! First of all, I'd like to thank anyone who took the time to read this, review it, and favorite/follow it. I'm amazed with how much attention this got within its first few hours! And about 24 hours later I'm getting PMs, concerned that I've given up on the story. Don't worry, I haven't! Now to address some reviews:**

 **Guest** **(first guest to review): I like Bal as well, so I'm not really sure which I'm going to end up sticking with. There will probably be a bit of fluff with both but I'm probably going to need help from you guys later in the story to decide which is better ;)**

 **Gu3st:** **Shh! You're on to me! ) just kidding. What I'm going to do is kind of like that, but I've fleshed it out a bit so it's different from anything else other people have on here. At least, I think it is. If it's not, then I haven't read anything like it.**

 **Guest** **(third guest to review? I think?): Thank you so much for taking the time to write that out. I will definitely be making good use of these tidbits. I am trying to be as realistic as possible.**

 **Bran the Warg** **: Awesome! Someone who agrees with my ships!**

 **Maleficent-darkgoodwitch2416** **: Yes, Audrey is going to be nice. I feel like with parents like Aurora and Prince Phillip, there was no way she could turn out as badly as she did in the movie. Chad, on the other hand, with a pushover mom and a blindly-in-love dad, could probably turn out to be a jerk, so I might not mess with that.**

 **Guest** **(one of the more recent ones): Ooh! Loved that idea, and I used a bit of it (as you'll see later in the chapter).**

 **Sorry if I didn't get to you! I will try to do about 5 per chapter but I read ALL of my reviews so if you have an idea feel free to put it in a review or a PM! And now, to make up for that long author's note (they'll probably all be that long, sorry!) here is a longer chapter 2!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Descendants. Unfortunately.**

 **WARNING: Slight reference to self-harm (nothing graphic).**

 **BEN POV**

Doug is in the garden, as I expected him to be, bent over a book. Of course. The brainiest of our group, you can generally count on him being here on Fridays, when we don't have morning classes. As I approach him, he adjusts his glasses and looks up to greet me.

"Hey, Ben," he says, closing his book.

"Hey, Doug," I respond.

"What are you reading?" I ask, sitting down beside him on the bench and peering at the cover.

He smiles and brushes some nonexistent dust off the front. "It's a treasury of classics from the past few centuries." He stares lovingly at the book, which is completely enormous and could easily fill a backpack by itself.

"They here yet?" Doug questions, changing the subject.

I nod.

"What are they like?" he continues, in a tone that tells me he wants details.

"One of them is tall and built like a tank," I begin dutifully, "but the rest are kind of small-"

"Not what they look like, Ben!" Doug interrupts. "I meant, what are they actually like?"

I hesitate, frowning a little. "Well, Audrey and I got the vibe that something was wrong. They're quiet. Too quiet. And scrawny, like they don't eat much."

Doug nods. "I'm not surprised they're skinny," he comments casually.

"What do you mean?" It slips out before I can stop it.

"Ben, you must know by now that the Isle only gets our garbage," Doug says matter-of-factly. I must be showing my confusion on my face, because he looks at me strangely. "You know, the stuff we throw out, food that goes bad before it's sold, our leftovers, pretty much everything we don't use." When I don't respond, he continues quietly, "You _did_ know that, didn't you?"

I gape at him, opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish.

"We can talk about that later," he covers quickly. "What else? Anything interesting?"

"Not that I can think of," I say slowly. The truth is, there's a lot about them that's interesting. Like the bruises. Their clothes, the wrong sizes and not right for this weather. The way they all stared at the floor when I looked at them. Maybe I'm overreacting and all kids on the Isle grow up this way. I don't want to bother Doug with all this just in case I'm just being ridiculous, so I stand up abruptly and smooth out some make-believe wrinkles in my shirt. "Well, I'd better get going. Lunch is coming up, and I should probably check that the new kids are settling in."

Doug looks up at me with a concerned look on his face. "Ben. Did you really not know? About the food?"

His comment forms a lump in my throat that stings when I swallow and respond, "No, I didn't. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Before he can say anything else, I turn and hurry out of the garden, back towards school.

 **MAL POV**

"Is this a _bed_?" I ask incredulously, slamming my suitcase down at the foot. "What do you do with it; sleep in it?"

Evie smirks, but the longing in her eyes as she runs her fingertips across the soft pink comforter is unmistakable. Yes, we had _beds_ back home, but what constitutes a bed is very different here than it is on the Isle.

I unlatch my suitcase and start putting my things away in the closet. Evie does the same, her gaze lingering critically on each outfit before she hangs it up. Several outfits are laid aside. When I question why, she simply says, "I can't wear those right now."

I examine the offending garments and find them all to be short sleeved. "Evie, it's hot out," I reason, but it's only in vain. She scoops them up and deposits them back in her suitcase.

"I don't want to weird anyone out, Mal," she replies flatly. "We've only been here half an hour and they've been giving us strange looks since we got out of the car. Besides, you're wearing a jacket for exactly the same reason."

I'm about to argue with her as I slide the closet door shut, but the sleeve of my jacket slides down, revealing the rows of thin white lines across my wrist. I quickly pull my sleeve back to its proper position and my argument dies in my throat.

There's a knock on the door, but before I can tell the visitor to enter, they let themselves in. Who else would it be besides Jay and Carlos? Jay eyes the room and says, "This is the pinkest, prissiest room I've ever seen in my life."

Evie snorts. "I'm not complaining. It's got air conditioning and lights that will work _all the time_ , not just when our parents remember to pay the bills."

"Look at the TV!" Carlos exclaims, ripping open one of the nightstands beside the beds and pulling out a small black remote. "If you press the red button, you can watch TV, and if you press the green button over here, you can play games."

Jay rolls his eyes. "Dude, it's not that exciting."

"That's what you think!" Carlos shoots back, putting the remote back in the drawer and picking up a handheld controller. "Have you ever even played a video game before? Have you ever even _seen_ one?"

The game on the screen blasts some obnoxious theme music before prompting Carlos to press the Start button and start the first level. As Evie and I organize her makeup by color in the bathroom, Jay sits down on the bed and peers at the screen with a weird look on his face.

"Jay," I say quietly, putting down a lip gloss and turning to face him with a knowing smile on my face, "don't you want to play?"

He sighs. "Kind of."

"There's an extra controller in the drawer," Carlos says excitedly, jamming buttons with his thumbs. "You're gonna kick ass at this game, it's really easy. So to jump, you press the A button, and to fight you press B. Special attacks are the square button over here..."

I tune out Carlos's directions and turn back to the makeup in front of me. Evie has eye shadow and eyeliner in any color you can imagine, and blushes and lipsticks in every shade under the sun. As she puts cases of brushes and tools on a shelf with all of her nail polish, I hear what sounds like another knock on our door.

"Come in!" I call, hoping I'm loud enough that I'm not drowned out by the video game. The door opens and the noise from the game abruptly stops.

"Hi again," someone says. I peek out from the bathroom. It's the kid from earlier. _Ben? It must be Ben._ I grit my teeth and pray that one of the boys will say something, but I'm out of luck. It's silent, so I'm forced to answer.

"Hi," I say quietly.

"Are you guys getting settled in pretty well?" Ben asks, looking right at me. I quickly turn my gaze to the floor.

Thankfully, Jay answers for me. "Yeah, we're alright."

"Good," Ben says. Something in his voice is tight and strained. Is he being forced to come check on us? We definitely don't need his charity. Before I can tell him that, he speaks again. "Um, it's about time for lunch, so I came to get you guys and bring you down to the dining room."

Jay turns to me, as if to see what I think. I give him a shrug, so he looks back to Ben and simply says, "Okay."

Ben smiles, turns and leaves the room. "Follow me!" he calls over his shoulder.

Evie and I exit the bathroom quickly and follow the three boys out of the room. My hands are shaking again. No matter where we were, at school or at home: back on the Isle, mealtimes were _not_ fun. At school, anyone who had food was beaten to a pulp and robbed. At home, it was even worse. I can handle myself, but I really am not in the mood for that today.

We go down a few flights of stairs and follow Ben back to the main entryway, where he leads us down a hallway into a big room filled with tables: the dining room. "This is it," he tells us. "Sit anywhere you like." Then he leaves us on our own to figure this out for ourselves.

I press my lips together into a hard line and take a table in the corner, close to the door. Evie sits to my left with Jay, and Carlos sits on my other side. There's food in the middle of the table, and a card that lists today's lunch.

"Vegetable rice soup, chicken stew, biscuits, peas, and apples," Jay reads, the confused tone in his voice revealing that these are all new to us. It all smells really good. Evie swallows, her eyes fixed on the plate of apples.

Carlos reaches out to grab something, but Evie smacks his hand back. "We don't know how this works yet. We don't want to get in trouble."

So we sit, silently waiting for someone to give us the signal that it's okay to eat. My stomach growls, remembering all too well the punishments our parents have given us regarding food. Telling us we couldn't eat for a week but forcing us to cook, sit at the table during the meal, and clean up after. Putting small amounts of dangerous herbs and poisons in our food. Allowing us only one meal a day for an entire month. Thinking about that one, my stomach convulses dangerously and I take a deep breath, trying to think about something else.

Twenty minutes go by, at least. We shift and fidget, but we don't touch the food only inches away from us, tempting us as the aromas waft over to our noses. I raise my fist to my mouth and bite on my knuckles, hoping that it will curb the pangs of hunger if I can pretend it's food.

Before any of us realize he's even left his table, Ben is standing beside Carlos. "Um, aren't you guys going to eat?" Ben asks, looking a little bit confused. "If you don't like it, we can get you something else. We weren't sure-"

Jay cuts him off. "No, this is fine. It's just… we thought…" He looks at me and Evie lamely, trying to come up with an excuse.

"We weren't sure how much we could have," Evie blurts. "Or who we had to ask."

Ben blinks. "Ask?"

"You know, ask if it was okay for us to eat?" Evie continues.

"Okay," Ben says slowly. "You can eat however much you want… and you don't have to _ask_ anybody. Okay?"

We all blink in confusion. Jay finally opens his mouth. "Alright. Thanks."

Ben nods awkwardly. "Enjoy your food." He hurries back to his table and sits down. I peek over my shoulder, only to see everyone he's sitting with staring at us. I quickly whirl back around to face the food.

We pile our plates high, not caring if people think we're pigs, and start to eat. Everything tastes so good, but we're full within a few minutes, and we only finish about half the food on our plates.

"I don't want to waste it," I sigh, pushing my plate away, "but I'm stuffed."

Evie eyes all the food we've left unfinished. "Mom would kill me for leaving this much."

"Nah, she would probably just beat you," Jay says matter-of-factly. Evie glares at him.

Suddenly, a bell rings loudly above us. Carlos just about jumps out of his skin. Everyone starts to get up and head toward the doors, so we quickly push back our chairs and follow them. Ben turns around and stops us by the door.

"You guys are going to Goodness class with the Fairy Godmother," he explains. "It's right down that hallway, you can't miss it." He points the way that we're supposed to go, then gives us a quick wave and hurries away in the opposite direction.

We follow his directions to Goodness class. Jay is still laughing about Carlos's reaction to the bell by the time we get inside. I'm the only one who glances back and sees Ben, standing outside his next class, watching us with a peculiar look on his face.

Before I can do anything, he realizes I see him and ducks inside the classroom.

 **(A/N) I'm not that pleased with how this turned out. The next chapter will be much better, I promise! Stay with me! Next update will probably be Friday or Saturday, I will not be updating every day. If you have any ideas, please PM me! PM box is always open.**

 **Love, Lex**


	3. Sorry I'm just the worst human ever

I'm so sorry to everyone following this story that it has been over two months... I'm sorry to anyone who thought this was a chapter... And I'm sorry that you're going to have to wait even longer to get an update...

This story is being placed on hold.

I'M SORRY!

It's been forever and I am so, so, so sorry but I have had a really rough 2 months (not going to go into too many details because I'm guessing you don't care) and this story has been one of the last things on my mind. But with school, dance, the orthopedist, depression, and the surgery I've had to deal with, I haven't gotten anywhere with this story. The plot is the same as most of the other Descendants fics out there and I'm super unoriginal apparently because I'm writing the same kind of crap as everyone else who's ever seen this movie.

I know. I'm absolutely the worst.

And you have every right in the world to hate me and unfollow/unfavorite the story and me because I basically ripped this story away from you and I told you to have faith in me and I completely failed you even though you stuck with me.

I apologize a thousand times over.

If anyone wants to leave an angry review or send an angry PM that's fine, and I'll get back to you if you'd like me to.

And if anyone has an idea they're willing to offer me that could make this different from everyone else's fics (and therefore interesting for you to read) it would be greatly appreciated and it might help me start writing the story again.

I love you all and thank you for giving me support on the first few chapters. I'm not deleting the story so don't give up on it completely, but please don't be expecting anything anytime soon.

Again, I am so unbelievably sorry because I **HATE** it when authors do this, but I feel like you needed some explanation as to what was going on. I'm absolutely the worst.

Love, Lex


	4. Announcement

Well, it's been about a year since you guys got an update.

This also isn't an update, but I have an announcement for you guys.

 _I_ am not going to finish this story.

 _BUT._

Someone who saw the first two chapters and saw some potential there reached out to me asking if they could adopt the story and finish it themselves. And because I love you guys and I feel so guilty still about what I did to you, I accepted. The amazing RvnsDsks will be rewriting/continuing this story. I'm not sure when the first chapter will be up, but I will keep you updated.

I hope this appeases you all and again, I'm sorry that I couldn't finish it myself. I'm trying to do right by all of you :)

Lots of love,

Lex


End file.
